The 2022 Brazil Grand Prix was held on a cloudy November afternoon in Sao Paulo's Interlagos circuit. The race stood out by a long shot in a largely predictable and uneventful season. A driver from the second slowest team qualified in first place, dropped to eighth after the sprint race, and then crashed out in lap 1 of the Grand Prix. Two sets of rival frontrunners collided into each other on the same lap. And a young driver cinched his first career race win in a season dominated by his rival team's star driver. Here are some of those moments visualized.
Kevin Magnussen (MAG) drives for team Haas. Haas has consistently been in the bottom 3 teams since they started racing in 2016, save for a brilliant 5th place in 2015. While they started the 2022 season strong, their performance tapered as the year went on for a number of reasons: other teams brought upgrades, and Haas, a lower-budget team, couldn't afford to keep up. This pole position was definitely essential. Magnussen skillfully drove on dry-weather tires in drizzly weather, while others opted for slower intermediate tyres, which gave them grip in the rain. This gave Magnussen an advantage, especially over world champion Max Verstappen (VER), who put up a good fight but was in the end two-tenths of a second slower than Magnussen. Magnussen therefore secured Haas a spot on the front row, both the team's and his first pole position.
Lights out and away they go! Lap 1 of the Grand Prix saw George Russell of Mercedes starting in first place (not Magnussen, because his qualifying feat – while admirable – only guaranteed him pole position at the Brazil Sprint Race, where he crossed the finish line at eighth), Lewis Hamilton (HAM) of Mercedes in second and Max Verstappen (VER) of team Red Bull in third. This graph shows in pedal pressure percentage how hard these three drivers were slamming on the accelerator. Unfortunately, Magnussen spun out after getting hit by another driver from the back, causing both to crash into the barricade and spatter debris on the track. I would have included his throttle data in this chart but the telemetry data was incomplete. You can see where Russell, Hamilton and Verstappen had to step off the gas and slow down, as is required in a yellow flag situation so that race marshalls can safely clear the track.
Couple laps later and everyone was ready for some hard racing again, but last year's title rivals got a little too close to each other. Hamilton was in second and Verstappen, who was faster, was challenging from third. He came alongside him on the inside of the track, young blood taunting the old guard, and caused Hamilton to brake too early into a turn and get booted off-road. In this graph we see Hamilton's speed reduce significantly near the end of the lap as he brings his car back under control. Verstappen, however, suffered the most damage. He had to pit in the next lap to change his tyres and front wing, and was out of the top 3 for the remainder of the race.
By the end, Russell was having a lonely race at the trip. While others squabbled for points behind him (only those in the top ten get points) he cruised to his first race win in his Formula One career and also gave Mercedes their first win of the season. Hamilton, his Mercedes teammate, stayed close to him but could not overtake. Carlos Sainz (SAI) had the speed in the final lap of the race, but could not slip past Hamilton's defenses.
Russell's win ultimately did not change his championship position, however. He stayed fourth, like he had been for the seven races prior, but retained his lead over his teammate Hamilton. Second place for Hamilton meant dropping shocking sixth in the standings, the lowest the seven-time world champion has ever been in his Formula One career.